The Sport of Life: Chats w/ Comedians, Filmmakers, Sports Figures, Musicians, & Intellectuals

Austin American Statesman & Austin360.com food critic and reporter Matthew Odam chats with Trey Elling about his 2023 Austin Dining Guide. The guide details the 20 best new restaurants in Central Texas and three Austin 360 Food Hall of Fame inductees. Topics include: An overview of this year's guide (0:00) Ezov (2:12) Uptown Sports Club (6:20) Este (9:58) Ramen Del Barrio (12:51) Wee's Cozy Kitchen (15:18) Underdog (16:42) Holiday on 7th (18:47) Uchi in the HOF (23:05) Jo's Bakery & Coffee Shop in the HOF (28:36) Magnolia Cafe in the HOF (30:16) Predicting Austin's next big food trends (35:20) Houston Astros talk (38:59) Texas vs Washington in the CFP (42:11) NOLA food recs (42:58)

Comedian Owen Smith chats with Trey Elling, prior to his headlining shows at The Comedy Mothership on December 8th & 9th. Topics include: Selling out the Mothership (0:00) Raising young kids (1:11) Why Owen loves LeBron (2:36) Personal sports highlights (8:50) Attending Notre Dame (14:28) Coaching youth sports (17:34) Reffing youth sports (22:21) Mothership expectations (25:48) Standup goals (26:47) Writers' strike memories (29:27)

Comedian John Crist chats with Trey Elling, ahead of his headlining show at ACL Live at the Moody Theater in Austin on December 8th. Topics include: Different standup venues (0:00) Knowing your audiences (2:55) Unwritten rules of standup (7:17) Nashville's standup scene (13:46) John's ridiculous cancellation (18:40) "Christian comedian" (25:26)

Comedian Donnell Rawlings chats with Trey Elling, ahead of his headlining shows at Joe Rogan's Comedy Mothership on December 1st thru 3rd. Topics include: Trey's apology to Donnell (0:00) Cancel culture (1:13) Raising resilient kids in 2023 (5:50) The Comedy Mothership (10:48) The power of laughter (13:10) Comedy Club unwritten rules (14:27) Achieving standup enlightenment (18:48) What he loves about Einstein & Marley (24:05) What he wants to be remembered for, other than standup (26:20)

Comedian Sean Patton chats with Trey Elling, ahead of his headlining shows at Creek & The Cave on November 25th and 26th. Topics include: Calling the Comedy Cellar home (1:07) The legitimacy of 'soaking' (3:17) Sean's karaoke injury (5:51) New Orleans (15:01) Comedy Club etiquette (20:42) Giving the audience what you want (26:11) Being a New Orleans Saints fan (29:26) Baton Rogue tamping Sean's love for LSU (45:23) FX picking up a new comedy Sean stars in (48:40)

Comedian and actor Faizon Love chats with Trey Elling, ahead of his headlining shows at Cap City Comedy Club. Topics include: Snoop Dogg forcing Faizon to retire from weed (0:00) Where he draws his standup material from (4:00) Having his first kid at 50 (4:33) The difficult art of standup comedy (7:23) Starting his standup career at the Comedy Store in the mid-1980s (10:11) Faizon's first encounter with Richard Pryor (13:25) Sam Kinison (14:31) Comparing standup and comedic acting (15:52) A scene from Elf as an example of comedic timing (19:08) Learning to surf for Blue Crush (20:10)

Comedian & podcaster Sam Tripoli chats with Trey Elling, ahead of his Tin Foil Hat Comedy show at the Vulcan Gas Company on November 17th. Topics include: Armenians unite! (0:00) His show with Eddie Bravo at Vulcan (2:17) The LA comedy scene is down (4:25) Would Sam move out of California (7:32) Austin vs Cali homelessness (10:00) American politics (12:51) Sports conspiracies (26:39)

Actor & environmentalist Ed Begley Jr chats with Trey Elling about his new memoir, TO THE TEMPLE OF TRANQUILITY...AND STEP ON IT! Topics include: Carrie Fisher's influence on this book (0:00) What Ed Begley Sr was like as a dad (1:37) Smoking a joint with Charles Manson (2:44) Doing standup with Michael Richards at the Comedy Store in its first week (4:36) How a cop routine got him into trouble (6:10) Having John Lennon fanboy on Ed (9:49) Working for Norman Lear in the 1970s (11:20) Endearing himself to Richard Pryor while filming Blue Collar (12:28) How Jack Nicholson helped him as an actor when making Goin' South (13:50) Recognizing the good fortune he was born into (16:24) How St. Elsewhere improved him as an actor (18:19) Hosting SNL in 1984 (20:43) Ed's Larry David story (22:57) Having to squash Marlon Brando's dream (24:25) Bruno Kirby's influence on Ed as a person (27:25) How Christopher Guest saved his career (28:58) Working on Arrested Development (30:58) Living with Parkinson's Disease (32:51) Why the phrase "This is It" means so much (34:56)

Alonzo Bodden chats with Trey Elling, before his headlining shows at the Comedy Mothership in Austin, TX. Topics include: His initial impressions of the Mothership (0:00) Austin's comedy crowds (3:40) Performing for the military (7:33) Dealing with a heckling klansman (9:41) Performing outside the US (13:54) Expectations for this year's LA Clippers (17:12) Electric and driverless vehicles (20:54)

Mark Burg & Oren Koules chat with Trey Elling about SAW X, shortly after the film's premiere at Fantastic Fest 2023. Burg and Koules have produced all ten projects for the franchise, beginning with the original in 2004. Topics include: Making this one for the casual viewer (0:00) The components of making these films (1:04) Contributing ideas on the traps (1:49) Making SAW films for two decades (3:39) Maintaining good relationships with the crew for 20 years (4:58) Killing it on social media (6:40) Potential future (8:25) Jeopardizing a kid for the first time (9:59) Shooting in Mexico City (11:03) Final thoughts (12:30)